A Very Academy Christmas
by xXSweetSurrenderXx
Summary: It's their first Christmas away from the Academy and in their adult lives. Dimitri didn't die, and never requested to be re-assigned. Fluff, humor, and a lemon in a later chapter. What else would Dimitri give Rose for Christmas!
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so my the first VA fic that I've actually posted, but I'm no stranger to it. I have a second chapter coming up, most likely tomorow, but if I don't get time (It sort of is Christmas) it will be up in the next three days. ****Any criticism/feedback is welcome. I know it's terribly cheesy of me to do a Christmas fic, but hey, how often do theese guys get a little respite for something nice? I****'l see how the next chapter comes out, but most likely I will do Dimitri's present for Rose (!!!) which will end up with an M rating.**

**A shout out to all the kids on the VA fanfiction forum, especially to Rachelosaurus, (LaLaLovely47) for her strange dream about a kid with an awsome name (Judd).**

**Ok, so sorry about the massive AN, It won't be this ginournous again._ Set after SK and graduation, but for the purpose of this fic Dimitri was not killed but left in the cave unconscious. He never asked to be re-assigned, and Eddie was assigned to Christian. Since they have all graduated they are living at the royal court, and Adrian came with them to keep investigating spirit with Lissa._**

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_Don't own VA, or any of it's characters. I do own Judd Juddson, but Rachel can have him if she wants =p_

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**A Very Academy Christmas.**

Rose POV.

Lissa's cat hissed at me as I walked through the door, puffing up its patchy grey fur to try and seem intimidating. _Nice try_. I thought, but I seriously doubted I would ever be intimidated by something under a foot high that had a big, gaudy, red bow still attached to its collar. Christian smirked at me, reclining on the couch in the middle of the room as his Christmas gift to Lissa continued to hiss and spit at me from under the coffee table.

"There's more than one reason you got her a cat, isn't there?" I asked him, as his smirk increased. "Don't flatter yourself," he said, half laughing. "I just thought it would be nice for _someone_ around here to be getting some pussy." He turned his head and stared pointedly at Eddie, who was standing in the corner of the room dressed in the usual guardian attire. Eddie looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh Christian, just ugh. Do holidays always make you more charming than usual?" I said. Eddie laughed at my question. "No, but a champagne breakfast seems to be doing the trick. He's been drinking since seven this morning." Christian shot him an indignant look. "I had two glasses, and only because we have to endure the Voda's brunch in an hour. I don't think I can take all royals trying to flash their new jewelry at each other on an empty stomach."

"Then eat a danish next time." I shot back.. "Anyway, I came here this early to tell you you've been sprung. Seems half the royals in this place hit the bottle a little too hard last night and the brunch has been cancelled." Christian grinned. "Great, I'll tell Aunt Tasha that we can meet her in one of the rec rooms earlier then." He jumped up to get the phone.

I walked over to the couch and sank into it gratefully. I might have been Lissa's official guardian for around six months now, but I still hadn't gotten used to standing all the time. "The rec rooms?" I asked Eddie. "I was under the impression that there was a party happening." With the printed invitations we'd all received, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a god damned ball about to occur in Tasha Ozeras' guest apartment.

"Oh, there's a party alright." Eddie laughed. "Tasha's booked out one of the smaller dining rooms, and by the sound of it she and her guardian spent half the night decorating"

I smiled. Since the lower class Moroi had started calling to light the unfair distribution of the guardians and the attack on St. Vladimir's had occurred, security had been stepped up for all royals. That meant Tasha finally had her own guardian. A nice man named Judd Judson, who, although a little bland in the looks and personality department, seemed to get along with her fairly well and was good at his job.

"Poor Judd, I bet they didn't tell him that interior design would have to be a part of his skills base when he got the assignment." Eddie laughed. It was good to see him healing after loosing Mason. It had been a year, and although still far from the laughing, joking guy he had been, Eddie had been getting some of his sunshine back, even if only behind closed doors.

Christian came back into the room, grinning ear to ear. "We're set to meet her in an hour. Where's Lissa at?" I checked through the bond. She was standing in their bedroom, wrapped in a towel and surveying several outfits laid across the huge bed. "Deciding what to wear, I might go help her." I glanced towards Christian. "If that's ok with you, _Lord Ozera_." I jibbed. He hated people using his title. He just laughed and nodded, flopping back onto the couch and half kicking me in the side. "Don't get lost in there though, I might be ok with _you_ seeing my future wife in a towel, but I don't know if I'd feel the same way about Guardian Belikov, and then we'd never get anywhere on time." I just smiled and shook my head, walking to the bedroom door.

Lissa sighed as she saw me. "Semi-formal. _Semi-formal_. What on earth am I meant to class as _semi-formal_ for a brunch?!" She huffed some more and flopped down onto the bed. I came and perched on a clothing-free spot.

"Well I've got some good news for you then, brunch is cancelled, we're meeting Tasha in the 'rec room' in an hour." I glanced at the clock. "Well a little bit less than an hour now." She sat back up and appraised me. "How is it that you manage to get fully ready in just fifteen minutes everyday, and _still_ look that good?" She said mournfully. I frowned. It really wasn't that hard when you had a choice of black slacks and a white shirt, or black slacks, a white shirt and a black jacket, but I didn't tell her that. No need to make her feel bad about the Queen's decisions on appropriate guardian attire.

"Mad skills." I replied dryly. "Now wear the red one, it's more festive, and you won't make the rest of us peons look worse." I grinned at her. "It's semi casual now." She laughed. "Wow, does that mean you get to wear a black sweater instead of a black jacket?" Well maybe she did notice my wardrobe woes…

"Nah, we're not all half married like you, I've still got someone out there to impress." Lissa laughed again and pushed me towards the door, trying to affect a firm expression. "I'll be out soon, be nice to my half-husband."

I couldn't help but smile myself as she threw my own words back at me, and my smile only increased as I saw who else had joined the gathering in the lounge room.

"Nice to see you again stranger. Seems you didn't get eaten by roving Strigoi while on patrol, we were starting to wonder." I smirked. "What with the time and all."

Dimitri gave me a rare grin back, as he leaned against the wall. I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously tight and see-through his white t-shirt was, and how it outlined every one of his incredible stomach and chest muscles. "It must be your ferocious reputation that kept them away. I had to stop off and get something." Glowing on the inside, I copied his neat trick of raising one eyebrow. "Shopping spree? Had to get a trolley for all our gifts? Was the plasma TV and all the diamonds just too heavy for you?" He didn't frown at my wise-cracking like he normally would. If anything, his already rare smile actually increased. "Well now that you mention it…"

"No way!" I gasped, half jumping over to him. "You got us presents? When, how? Never mind that. _Where are they?_"

He laughed at me, and leaned back against the wall again. "In the dining room, with Tasha. But I know you, and you have to wait until later. So yours isn't there."

I frowned. "That's just not cricket, comrade. If it's mine, shouldn't I decide when I get it?" He looked down at me with his dark eyes, staring me down. "No, Rose. You can't have it until later." The things that filled his eyes as he said that gave me shivers in places that shouldn't be mentioned in decent company. Even though his voice remained even, the longing and lust that filled his dark brown irises told the truth, and I suddenly had an inkling of what my Christmas present might be.

Before I could say anything that would be embarrassing and possibly job threatening, Lissa came flouncing out of the door in the red cashmere dress. "Hair up or down? Heels, flats or boots?" I turned to look at her, and noticed Christian's eyes raking up and donw her woolen silhouetted body. I definately got the impression that he approved. I turned my attention back to my best friend, and assessed her outfit. "White heels maybe, if you want to match the holiday. Otherwise black should do. Leave your hair down, it's just close friends. I don't think you have time to curl it, unless you already have the iron on." Lissa nodded seriously. "I thought that too, so I plugged it in, it should be ready now." And with that she turned and hurried back into the bedroom.

Eddie started laughing. "You two, honestly. You looked like you were discussing battle plans or something." He laughed again. Somewhat miffed about Eddie's dig, I had to restrain my snarky comeback. It was Christmas after all. "Well I can't have her embarrassing me now, can I? The other guardians might laugh. An who better to take advice from than Rose Hathaway, hotness incarnate?"

Christian started choking and laughing at the same time, trying not to spill his third - or was it fourth? - glass of champagne. Eddie just smiled and shook his head. "Well you do look very good" a Russian laced accent crooned quietly from next to me. I turned and looked at Dimitri again, the look on his face sending my knees weak. Luckily, Lissa then decided to make her second grand entrance, declaring we were ready to go.

I snapped back into guardian mode, and tried not to gag as Christian all but molested her against the doorframe. Once Dimitri had confirmed the hallway was clear I fell into step behind Lissa and we set off to the dining room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope everyone had a good holiday! Sorry for any mistakes or typos in here, I'm really hungover and wanted to get it up before work. Bleh. Anyway, thank you so much for the reviews! Dimitri and Rose's night together will be the next chapter up, but I'm going working/camping at the Falls for the next five days, so it's unlikely I'l able to update until then =[ So as consolation, if there is anything in paticular you want done/said in the next chapter, put it in a review or pm and I'l do my best.**

**Re-Edited now!!!! So sorry about the strange jumps in time without breakers, I had them in my word document but it seems they didn't make the upload! I'm not a bad writer! It was just a typo. Sorry again.**

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**_Still don't own anything, but Judd Judson apparently belongs to Rachel. I disagree, but we can share._**

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**Chapter Two.**

Rose POV.

_Wow,_ was about all I could think. Just _wow._

The 'small' dining room had been transformed. The vaulted ceiling had been hung with long strings of fake pine and tinsel, interspersed with mistletoe. The same strings ran looped along the long walls, anchored to the stone with wreaths of pine cones and red ribbon.

Three long tables sat down the center of the room, covered in festive tablecloths, with more plastic-pine-leaves-and-wreath adornments, including little plastic holly leaves this time. On top of two of the tables were unlit candles and huge bowls of punch, also surrounded by holly. The third table – or were they benches? – closest to the wall was covered in gifts wrapped in a medley of different colored papers. I made a mental note to get myself near that table later.

Dragging my eyes away from a small, suspicious looking box covered in newspaper that just screamed _wrapped by_ _Adrian_, I noticed that Tasha had somehow managed to score a room with a fireplace; and what a fireplace it was. I would bet all the small amount of money I possessed that we could pull up chairs _inside_ the hearth and still not get burned by the roaring flames that were currently consuming a log as thick as my thigh. The stockings that Lissa had had commissioned for the occasion were hanging around it on rather precarious looking plastic hooks.

Next to the fireplace a semicircle of comfortable looking couches and chairs had been set up, and sitting in various states of disarray were our friends.

In the time that I has spent taking in the scenery, Lissa had made her way over to the congregation, and was standing there surveying their appearance with her hands on her hips. Mia was dressed in ragged jeans and a sweatshirt with a reindeer on it that looked home made. I envied her the comfort of jeans. Adrian was half lying down, with his back leaned against the couch and a mostly empty glass of punch in his hand. He had a small mountain of opened Christmas bon-bons next to him, and was wearing a purple crepe paper crown. Guardian Judson was leaning against the fireplaces' mantle, for what looked to me like support, and was resting his face in his hand after knocking down a number of stockings. Tasha herself looked as well put together as usual, long black hair pulled back into a loose bun, her soft looking black slacks and white jacket looking neat and un-rumpled.

"Semi-_formal._" Lissa said, trying not to sound disapproving, but failing. "If this is semi-formal, I'd hate to see casual." Adrian coughed a laugh as he pushed himself to his feet, using the couch to try and hide his sway. "I think your looking at casual, cousin. Not everyone here woke up exactly fresh faced this morning." He winced and touched his head absentmindedly, obviously remembering the hangover he must have woken up with earlier. This hardly surprised me, but the similar look on Mia's face did. I hadn't taken her for a party girl anymore.

Adrian grinned again. "It's good to see not everyone has such reservations though." I followed his gaze and found Christian was filling himself a glass of punch from the table, and another for Lissa. That boy was going to be wasted by midday.

Tasha laughed at their bantering. "Merry Christmas Lissa," She said as she reached out and hugged her. Then she looked over to where Dimitri, Eddie and I stood. "And to all of you as well, come sit down and grab a drink." She grinned. I sighed, the couches did look really inviting, and I could smell the punch from over here, so it had to be good.

"Sorry Tasha, I'm still on duty today. Gotta play hardass guardian." She shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, you're guests! We're in the heart of the Royal Court, with guardians patrolling the grounds and corridors. I'm sure it's fine if you sit down and have a drink just this once, you're both always on duty longer than you should be anyway." I couldn't help but notice how her gaze flicked to Dimitri as she said this.

I weighed the pros and cons in my head. It was really unlikely that anything dramatic would happen to endanger Lissa here, and there were two guardians stationed outside the door. I seriously doubted the Queen would be visiting anytime today, but if someone saw me not on alert…

Tasha seemed to sense my mental battle. "Judd can keep watching the doors and windows, he's already on it. You don't mind, do you Judd?" Guardian Judson actually looked like he was about to cry, but nodded in the affirmative. Tasha turned back to us and grinned. I wondered why she couldn't see there was something up with the poor man.

Eddie piped up. "I don't mind staying on duty with Guardian Judson, if he doesn't mind." Judd Judson shot Eddie a weak smile, and what I think was meant to amount to a grateful look. I looked at Dimitri, asking for confirmation with my eyes. He just shrugged, and headed towards the punch bowl.

Grinning like and idiot, I half ran towards the couches and threw myself down on one. Screw dignity, this was almost like getting a day off.

Lissa laughed, and came and sat on the end of the couch that wasn't taken by a sprawled me. Christian sat on the floor and leaned against her legs like a cat. Speaking of cats...

"Hey Christian, why'd you get Lissa such a god-ugly cat."

Dimitri shook his head as he handed me a glass of the rather strong smelling punch, and took a seat in the lounge chair next to my couch. Lissa looked at me with a half hurt expression. "Don't be horrible to Smithy. He came from a shelter and had a very hard life before Tasha found him and Christian adopted him. He has feelings, and I'm sure he doesn't appreciate being called ugly. He's a lovely little boy."

I just stared at her. "Smithy? The best name you could come up with was _Smithy_. I thought this thing was meant to be your surrogate baby or something."

Lissa had the good grace to at least look bashful. "He… well, he sort of already had a name when the center found him." I did my one eyebrow trick for the second time in a day. "So what? The mean ugly cat is now also stolen goods? This just keeps getting better Liss." Lissa actually looked hurt, and despite his earlier good mood, Christian was once again shooting me dark looks.

Fortunately for me, Adrian then decided to rejoin the group and disperse the argument. _Or save my ass_. I thought to myself.

"Rose is just feeling insecure about the cat not showing her the same doting affection the rest of us do." He came and sat down next to me in a very similar fashion to how Christian was sitting with Lissa. "But don't worry, I'll be you kitty cat if you like."

He grinned up at me, and I smacked him across the back of the head before he could attempt to rub his face in my cleavage like a cat, or anything else equally horrifying. Adrian just kept on grinning, and polished off his nearly full glass of punch.

I followed suit with mine, and saw Dimitri lightly frowning in my peripheral vision. I checked his glass to see that it was only half empty.

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"Presents!" Adrian roared as he lay across an entire couch. "I demand we open some presents!"

Christian stood up from the table that was littered with the remains of a giant meal, almost staggered, and then righted himself. I watched in confusion and he spread his arms wide, and then, with a serious face, declared: "It is time." I couldn't help snorting at his solemnity, but as Mia and Eddie started laughing, Lissa and Tasha clapped, and I felt myself giggling.

The mad rush to sort out what belonged to who, and put them in the stockings Lissa had had made began, Dimitri made his way over to me.

"Are you alright?" He whispered in my ear. Even though his breath on my neck gave me shivers, I couldn't help but be confused. "I'm fine, I'm great actually. Why wouldn't I be?" How could I be anything _but_ great with him standing this close? "You've had an awful lot of that punch." Oh, wonderful. So he thought I was drunk. "I've only had four glasses comrade, even Lissa's had more than me. And Christian's had a _lot_ more than me.

We both turned our eyes to the gift table where Christian was trying to fill a stocking one handed, with his other hand stopping the imminent fall.

The look on Dimitri's face was pretty priceless. "Definitely had more that you." I felt his large hand on my back. Almost, but not quite, rubbing circles into my skin. "You take care of yourself, alright?" His face turned serious as he said this. I felt the urge to scoff at the comment, but the look he was giving me stopped it.

"You're not giving our Rose a hard time are you Dimka?" Tasha called over from the other table. Dimitri shook his head. "She's an adult now, let her make her own punch-cisions." Mia yelled, laughing at her own joke. The laughing proved to be the downfall of the stocking she was filling, and she was soon on the floor trying to scoop up brightly wrapped parcels.

Dimitri was giving me that odd look again, with more eye contact than he usually allowed. "Yes, she is an adult now." For some reason the way he said that made goose bumps rise up on my arms.

Eddie was staring at me from his post across the room.

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I sat next to Guardian Judson by the fire, turning my wrist back and forth so the bracelet that hung there sparkled in the firelight. A delicate linked chain with tiny cubic zirconias set into each rivet. Well at least I hoped they were cubic zirconia. Knowing Adrian though, it was entirely possible that they were real.

Judd sat next to me, holding his now emptied stocking in his hands and looking at it forlornly. The stockings were beautiful creations, all white faux fur and soft linen. Each of them had our name stitched onto it in silver thread.

Sadly for Judd, the tailor had made a typo. His own stocking read Judson Judd, which looked like it was putting the cherry on top of a rather scarring Christmas for him. My own Rosemarie Hathaway stocking sat next to me, stuffed with a large amount of used wrapping paper.

"You'll be right." I said, patting his shoulder. "It only happens once a year. Now all you have to worry about is if Tasha decides to throw a birthday party for someone." He looked at me with an almost frantic look in his eye. "She wouldn't do that would she? Have other parties?" His hand was now gripping my forearm like it was a life preserver.

"Um, no. I guess not..." At my words he relaxed again. Jeez, talk about not taking a joke.

Judd started speaking again. "It's not that I don't like Tash. I do, really. It's just all this decorating stuff. The holly and tablecloths and…" he shuddered. "I haven't slept in 48 hours."

Wow, I guess Eddies comment before hadn't been too far off the mark.

I turned back to my now opened pile of presents, sifting through them, looking for something in particular.

"Hey, comrade." I called to Dimitri who was talking to Lissa at the dinner table. He turned and looked at me. "Hm?"

"Well, the way I see it, it's later now. Where's my stuff? You haven't given me anything." I tried to put as much indignation as I could into my accusation. Lissa started laughing, and Dimitri just shook his head, smiling. "Roza, Roza, Roza. What are we going to do with you?"

I looked at him like he was an idiot. "Give me presents, hopefully. Now cough up."

He just smiled and shook his head some more. "I told you earlier, you can't be trusted. I'll give it to you later." I felt the small hope I'd been harboring inside since the morning grow, and smiled back.

Once again, I noticed Eddie staring at me from his post, this time frowning.

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Everyone was packing up and saying goodbye. With all the punch drunk, all the food eaten and all the presents opened; everyone seemed to be conceding it was time to go to bed.

I watched at Lissa put all my things into a bag for me. I didn't like seeing her struggling for my benefit, but she had adamantly claimed before that I couldn't fight Strigoi if my hands were full of stockings; and she was half right.

I hugged the last few people of the group goodbye, and gave Mia and Adrian a peck on the cheek.

I wandered over to Eddie, who was technically off for the night now, to say goodbye. He pulled me into a tight hug, and I rested my head against his shoulder. He let out a small laugh. "Are you tipsy?" I resisted the urge to pull out of the hug and smack him, instead just shrugging. He held me for longer than I had expected, and seemed to be trying to say something.

In the end he just sighed and said, "I know." I was confused, had I said something? "Know what? You going senile on us Eddie?"

He sighed again. "I know… about you and Guardian Belikov."

I froze.

Eddie continued to hold me in spite of my sudden stiffening. "What do you mean Eddie?" He couldn't know. I couldn't loose my job, I couldn't loose Lissa. Or Dimitri.

"I know about you and Guardian Belikov, Rose." He repeated.

How could this be happening?

Eddie looked down at me. "I just want you to be careful, ok Hathaway? He's a lot older than you. I don't want to see you get hurt." He let out a small laugh. "I doubt I'd win a fight against him if it came down to that."

What did he mean? Of course it was going to hurt me if Dimitri lost his job. "Please don't do this, Eddie."

Now it was his turn to look confused. "Do what, exactly?" I frowned. "Report us. I swear it hasn't interfered with work. I can't loose Lissa Eddie, I just can't."

Eddie started to laugh. "You thought I was going to report you? Come on Rose, I don't think the board cares about who you're taking your clothes off with that much." I took a moment to process the information.

"So your not going to report us?" Eddie shook his head. "I just wanted to tell you to be careful, Rose. The last thing you need right now is to get messed up over a guy. None of them deserve you enough to get to do that."

I smiled and stepped forward for a hug again. "Thank you Eddie, really." After a quick squeeze he let go and just smiled, nodding towards the door. I turned to see a very impatient Lissa and company, and a curious looking Dimitri.

Shooting Eddie one last grin, I trotted to the door, and we were off.

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Presents in hand, I walked away from Lissa and Christian's room with a smile on my face. _Things are finally working out_.

No sooner had I thought this than a pair of arms reached out from an adjoining hallway and grabbed me. I began to struggle, but before I could inflict any blows saw who it was.

"Aren't you going to fight me?" Dimitri asked, pressing me and my ridiculously large armful up against the wall. "Why would I want to do that comrade? If you're dead, how am I meant to get my present?"

A tiny frown creased his forehead. "You're drunk." He stated. I must have pulled a face, because he shook his head quickly. "It doesn't matter anyway. Well…" He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Merry Christmas." He was dangling what looked like a room key in front of my face.

"Uhh…" was about all I could say, until realization dawned on me. "No way! Really?"

His face lit up at my reaction, but he tried to hide his excitement. "Only if you want to. We can always just go back to our own rooms and sleep if you'd like. I'll order you a necklace or something online." His smile got wider as he teased me.

"Give me the room key!" I shouted, dropping my armful and lunging for the small plastic card.

Dimitri laughed, easily evading my half drunken attempt at besting him. He restrained me and held me up against the wall, his fingers on my lips. "You have to be quiet for now at least, we can't have people waking up." His eyes began to burn into me. "Did you really think you could get that key? I may have taught you everything you know, but not everything I know." And with that, he kissed me.

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**Hurrah! Just to clear something up, Eddie dosn't know that Rose and Dimitri were together at the academy, he's just A) observant, B)Spends a lot more time around both of them now that he's guarding Christian and C) Since their equals now, Dimitri's able to have a more friendly relationship in public with Rose without people thinking it's inapproriate, Eddie just saw through the act.**

**I know the way he said it might have seemed a little blunt, but he's a guardian, not a politician. I just imagine Eddie having a very honest and straightforward personality.**

**20 reviews!!!!!!! I nearly wet myself.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so sorry it took so long to update! I had a lot of stuff going down, and then when I finally got around to being able to do this I was having some troubles. I think I might have re-written it three or four times before I decided to just suck it up and keep with the original. A massive waste of time I know, and I'm still not sure if this is right! But anyway, here is Dimitri and Rose's night together, and I hope I did get it right for you all! Hope everyone had an ace New Year, also.**

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**_Nope, even though I asked Santa for it nicely, I still don't own VA or it's characters. _**

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**Chapter 3**.

Rose Pov.

I could barely breathe. All of this was just so much more than I could have expected. I shied away from thinking about it too hard, afraid it was all a dream and I was about to wake up.

Dimitri pushed me closer up against the corridor wall, one hand still gripping my shoulder where he had restrained me before, and the other trailing down my neck to lightly brush against my collar bone underneath the edge of my business shirt. The burning trails his fingers left on my skin; and my equally burning awareness that we were in a highly visible place left me no doubt that I was completely awake despite my previous suspicions.

Ignoring all the warnings my alcohol-fogged common sense was screaming at me, I leaned forward and grabbed the belt loops on his pants, trying to deepen the kiss. Pulling his hips into mine, I licked along his bottom lip and was rewarded with a gasp, which allowed me entrance to his mouth.

I began to snake my hands up underneath the hem of his shirt, but just as my fingertips reached his skin, I felt him begin to pull back. Frantic not to loose any ground that we'd gained, I balled my hands in the white cotton and held him to me, even as his mouth pulled away from mine. Still held close by my grip on his shirt, he moved his lips to my ear, and I could hear him breathlessly chuckle.

"Roza, here is not the place." I suppressed a shudder at the huskiness of his voice, and the increased thickness of his Russian accent that only stress or close proximity to me could bring out. Leaning my head back against the wall, I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of being this near to him for a second. When I opened them again, I saw him scrutinizing me with a mixed look of desire and worry on his face. "Roza, are you sure this is what you want? It's probably going to make things more difficult for you."

Strongly resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I leaned up to his ear. Breathing on it and feeling him shiver; I whispered the one phrase I knew would let him know that my decision was fully made. "I love you."

I felt his hands reflexively tighten where they sat on my shoulders, and I half expected to be pushed back up against the wall again. In a colossal display of control, Dimitri took a step back and started collecting the things I had previously dropped on the floor.

Momentarily frozen by the loss of his hands on me, it took a few seconds longer than it should have to realize that I was meant to be helping him. We made short work of collecting the assortment of knick knacks, managing not to get distracted even though looking at the heat that filled his eyes whenever I saw him watching me made my limbs feel weak.

"So, Uhh, where to now?" I suddenly noticed I had no idea where we were meant to be going. I knew there was a room key, but I hadn't been close enough -or paying attention- to find out where it led. For all I know we could be in for an hour long drive.

"Guest rooms." Dimitri said quickly, noticing my train of thought. "But the lower class ones, around the back of the older building. It was one of the few available this time of year. We're also less likely to be noticed coming and going." His face fell a little at the reminder that we had to keep our relationship a secret, but I had a feeling that the wide grin I was sporting bolstered his spirits again somewhat.

"Guest rooms it is then." I said, starting off quickly towards the main hallway with Dimitri by my side.

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The freezing cold winter air had managed to clear away most of the punch-induced cobwebs in my head, and the brisk pace we set had burned off the rest. Dimitri had produced the key when we reached our destination, and unceremoniously tossed his armful onto the nearest chair to the door, feeling for the light switch.

Sober and standing in a rather generic looking guest room, I suddenly felt unusually nervous. I was acutely aware that I was wearing my plain old boy shorts underneath my suit pants, and I couldn't seem to remember whether I had put on my normal but rather unattractive sports bra this morning or something a bit fancier. I began to worry if my hair would be in tangles when I pulled it out of my bun, and a brief moment of something close to panic occurred as I wondered if Dimitri would be able to tell I hadn't had a chance for a shower earlier, since I'd been in such a rush to talk to Lissa..

Dimitri had just finished turning on the bedside lamps and was looking at me with a strange expression on his face. Realizing some of my panic must have leaked through; I attempted to put on my best smile. "So, does this place have a spa bath?" Shit, did my voice sound shaky?

Dimitri just kept looking at me with the same strange look, this time only altered with a single raised eyebrow. I mustn't be very convincing. "Or a shower. You know, a shower might do just fine."

During my babbling he had crossed the room and was now standing just a few inches away from me. He was examining my face very closely, but my embarrassment made me look away. Although we had spent some time alone together since, this was the first time we had been completely alone with our boundaries down since the night in the cabin. Somehow actually knowing what was about to happen made me feel anxious and inept.

Our first time had come about as a naturally snowballing effect of our feelings for each other, and the stress of some combined situations, so there wasn't a lot of pre-planning. But now I'd had all the time in the world to think about what I might be doing wrong, how I might embarrass myself. I knew Dimitri would always love me for who I was, but common sense couldn't shake the knee-jerk reaction of performance anxiety.

Through the loose strands of my hair I saw understanding light Dimitri's eyes. "Roza, are you nervous?" I looked further away. Some small part of me expected him to start laughing, while my higher reasoning told me he would never do that.

I felt him move the few rebellious bits of hair away from my cheek and turned my face towards him. He placed a hand on either side of my face and looked at me seriously, his eyes warm. "Don't be." He pulled my face to his and kissed me gently.

The heat from his mouth seemed to be melting away all my concerns. His lips moved slowly over mine at first, as he undid the bun that was tied and pinned to the back of my head. His hand began to massage my much-abused scalp, relaxing me even further. Soon all there was in the world were his lips on mine and his kneading fingers.

He pulled away slowly, and I had to hold in a whimper of disappointment. The grin he was giving me made it almost worth it. "Better?" He asked. Better didn't really cover it. Every muscle in my body was relaxed like they hadn't truly been in months, all my nerves from before had disappeared. "You could say that." I felt his hands running up my sides as he leaned back down towards my ear. "Good." Once again the huskiness of his voice sent butterflies through my stomach, as did his wandering hands; and this time, he didn't stop.

I felt my jacket slide off to the floor at the same time I felt his lips touch my neck. My breath quickened as his kisses trailed down my neck and came to rest in the hollow of my throat. I shivered as I felt his tongue flick out across the sensitive skin. His hands were on the front of my shirt now, slowly undoing a button. I gasped a little as I felt him nip my skin lightly on the way back up my neck, the other side this time. I felt more than heard him chuckle as his nose brushed the underside of my jaw and the second button on my shirt came undone.

He seemed to be enjoying making me wait, as his unrelenting kisses played up and down my neck only two more buttons had come undone. I can hardly say I wasn't enjoying the experience, but I decided it was time to speed things along a little.

I found the hem of his shirt once again and slid my hands under, a little faster this time but not enough to show how eager I was. His skin was warmer than usual, feeling almost over-heated to my hands, but not quite. I traced the silky planes of his hip bones for a moment before moving upwards.

I lightly ran my hands over his lower abs, and I could feel him shiver. His lips were now unmoving, not quite touching my skin but not quite removed. All un-buttoning on my top had halted. _Well if that's how it's going to be…_

My fingers continued travelling upward of their own accord. Once I had run my palms across the planes of his chest, I began to drag them back downwards. Dimitri's breathing was now heavy and close along the side of my face. Taking this as a good indicator that I was doing much the right thing (even though running my hands across his chest was mainly for my benefit) I began to attempt to push the shirt up his chest. No easy feat with his height.

After a few seconds of my futile attempt Dimitri seemed to snap back into reality enough to help me. It took a few seconds of fumbling – who would have thought that he was capable of being un-coordinated? - But we got there, and he stood shirtless in front of me.

_Oh, wow._

Yep, he was still one of the few people ever to render me wordless.

I brought my mouth to his now bare skin, tasting him. He shuddered as I continued trailing kisses lower and lower down his chest. Feeling brave, I gently grazed his skin with my teeth, and was rewarded with a quiet moan. Taking that as approval, I gently bit down.

"Roza" He almost growled as I felt him grasp my hands and pin them to my side. Instantly worried at what I had done wrong, I looked up to see his eyes smoldering and his face set with a hungry expression. "If you keep doing that, we're not even going to make it to the bed." I shivered. Suddenly the bed looked too far away to me as well.

"Is that such a bad thing?" My voice sounded dry to me, like I needed a glass of water, but it seemed to do the trick for Dimitri. He pulled me to him and crushed our lips together. This kiss held more heat than any of the previous ones, and sent a thrill through me at the realization that we wouldn't have to stop. This wasn't one of our forbidden kisses back at the Academy, or one of our stolen ones in an empty gym here at Court.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he surprised me by picking me up and carrying me over to the table a few feet away that served as a dining table/desk. As he was carrying me I wrapped my legs around his waist, and I kept them there once he had set me down on the table. He pulled away from our kiss, gasping. "If you don't want me to just take you right here and now, you're going to have to move your legs."

The thought made me shiver, but I obligingly unhooked my legs and allowed them to rest on either side of his. Dimitri still seemed to be having trouble regulating his breathing, so I decided to take advantage of his momentary lapse in control.

"Well god forbid you do anything you didn't want to do." I replied sassily. Reaching for the hem of his suit pants, I easily managed to undo the button and zip down his fly.

I tried to work his pants down over his hips, but his silk boxers seemed to be getting in the way. Before I could ponder this problem any further, Dimitri's strong hands grasped my wrists again.

He pushed me back against the table, holding my wrists above my head and leaning over me. It was a pretty good view. "Why don't you ever listen?" His normally deep voice came out shaky and almost breathy, and I loved it. "Boxers? Really?" I enquired about his uncharacteristic choice. "It's Christmas." Was his only reply.

His hands let go of my wrists and relocated to unbuttoning my shirt again. I reached my hand up to the back of his neck and pulled out the rubber band that kept his silky brown hair in its ponytail. I ran my hands through his hair like I so rarely got to do while his face was turned down, still concentration on the small buttons.

I knew he was done with the buttons when I heard a sharp intake of breath. I chanced a small look down at what bra I had on. It was my old black one, but still better than the sports bras that I had to train in most days. Dimitri seemed to think it was the veritable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

"Black." Was all he said, or could seem to say. He intoned the word with a sort of reverence. I had never understood men's reactions to black underwear, but I just felt lucky that this was the one I had pulled out of the drawer this morning. "Well, as you said, it's Christmas." I said lightly.

He looked up at me from where he was located, somewhere around my navel. "Oh, it certainly is." God, just the way he said that made me think indecent things.

While I had thought he would come back up after removing my shirt, he kept traveling down and began to unbutton my stretchy black pants. He seemed to have none of the difficulty removing mine that I had found with his, and they were soon on the floor.

He whispered his fingertips lightly up over my calves and thighs, then over my hips, and stomach, and ribs, and back again. On his second circuit I couldn't help but twitch as he passed. "Dimitri…" My voice was breathy.

His fingertips now began to linger along my ribcage, brushed the underwire of my bra. He leaned down and kissed the dip between my ribs, and I felt him reach for the clasp behind my back.

As I was still lying on the table, I had to rise up a little for him to reach it, which caused his lips to press harder into my skin. I felt the clasp unhook, and Dimitri slipped the straps off my shoulders gently. "Roza…" He sighed into my skin. I felt his fingertips brush the undersides of my breasts every so lightly, and arched my back to him again.

He raised himself away from my skin and slid the straps down my arms, dropping the bra to the floor. The air suddenly felt a lot cooler to my heated skin. The chilled air and the way he was looking at me made me shiver. "Oh Roza, my Roza." He leaned down and kissed me fiercely. I wrapped my hands in his lush hair again.

One hand cupped my face, while the other trailed down my side, brushing the side of my breast before he cupped it. I moaned. He kneaded it some more and I moaned again, my neck involuntarily arching back against the table. He began to kiss his way down my throat and across my collar bone. I felt his other hand grasp my hip.

His lips traveled further down, and I almost lost it when I felt his teeth gently graze the top of my other breast. He traveled lower and I cried out when I felt him gently suck. His fingers began to trace the elastic waistline of my shorts. His lips moved back up to my neck again, gently nipping there and I felt his fingers slip under the elastic and continue tracing.

If I didn't want to end up making love to him on a table, I was going to have to say something quick. Although mightily distracted, the last vestiges of my coherent thought recognized this, and battled to the surface. The table idea was an interesting one, but I would much prefer the roomy bed that wasn't covered in cabin dust.

I moved my hand to his bare shoulder and squeezed gently. "Dimitri…" I called. "Oh… Roza…" He moaned, nibbling my earlobe. I felt him slip his hand further down my shorts. I felt my resolve rapidly diminishing. I tried once more to gain his attention, this time with a gentle shake. "Dimitri!"

Mistaking my attempts as a reaction of his fondling, he moved his hand even lower, and slid it home, capturing my mouth with his. I gripped his back as I cried out, once again throwing my head back against the table. "Oh, Roza, I love you." He panted as I arched underneath him. "Dimitri… bed…" was all I could gasp out.

He rested his forehead on mine as he took a few steadying breaths. "Good idea." His Russian accent was as thick as I'd ever heard it. He removed his hand, picked me up and swung me over onto the bed in one lighting quick fluid motion that left me dizzy.

Once I had regained my sense of equilibrium, Dimitri had already shed his pants and unusually chosen boxers and was climbing onto the bed to once again lean over me. Even hyped up as I was, I had to chuckle. "Eager are we?"

Dimitri buried his face next to mine in my tousled hair. "Oh, you have no idea." Actually, I think did. For a few different reasons. "Oh trust me, I do." To illustrate my point, I bent my leg up at the knee, swinging it over his and pushing our hips together.

"Roza!" He cried as his back reflexively bent. Not wanting to wait any longer, I repeated the action and forcefully pulled his lips to mine, making my intention clear. His hands found my shorts again, this time not teasing around but sliding them off quickly and efficiently. Almost a little too efficiently for my liking, but I refused to think about how many other girls he had had time to perfect it on. Pushing the half formed ugly thought to the back of brain, I caught his eyes with mine.

"I love you, you know. I don't get to say it much, and when I do it's normally not in the best of situations, but…" Dimitri once again shushed me with his fingers. "I know Roza, I love you too. Now and always" He kissed me deeply, cranking the heat back up again.

Our breathing quickly became heavier and heavier, and I was convinced I wouldn't have to wait much longer. "Dimitri, please." I gasped. I felt his hands tighten on me, and he held himself still a moment before repositioning his hips. A veritable flood of sensation enveloped me as we joined.

A rhythm took over, and I don't know how we kept it up for, but time only seemed marked by the sounds of our heavy breath and calling each others names. The lurking fear of discovery that had been with us at the cabin was now absent. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

When we were done I lay on Dimitri's chest, watching him doze while I traced the tattoos on the back of his neck like I had that first time under the lust charm. It felt like decades has passed since then, even though it had only been a little over a year. I thought back to last Christmas with my mother and Mason present. Unconsciously I went to move my hand from tracing Dimitri's tattoos to tracing my own, but suddenly he issued a startled little yelp.

I tried to sit up quickly, looking around for any signs of danger, and Dimitri shrieked. I felt a tugging on my wrist that was next to his neck and looked to find that the bracelet Adrian had gifted me was tangled in the base of his hair, yanking on it when I moved. I gasped and instinctively went to put my hand to my mouth, which cause me to yank his scalp violently again, and Dimitri made another sound of pain.

"I'm so sorry!" I kept repeating as I undid the clasp and managed to unwind his hair. He scooted up into a sitting position against the bed head, still gingerly rubbing the base of his hairline. "Are you hurt?" I asked worriedly. It was a stupid thing to ask a guardian, he'd taken much worse in a single hit from me in some of our old training sessions, but I felt bad about hurting him outside the gym. He looked at me dryly. "I think I'll live."

I leaned back against his chest. Six months ago he nearly hadn't. The Strigoi that had bitten him in the caves had left him unconscious, nearly drained, and with a head wound lying near the windy entrance. He had remained lying there in the freezing Montana cold until the other guardians had come to collect the bodies. They had presumed he was dead at first; it was only my mother who had checked for a pulse. When they finally got him back to the clinic they'd thought they would have to operate to relieve the swelling on his brain from the head wound. Luckily the blood and fluids they pumped back into him had done it for them, but they kept him in an induced coma for close to a week. They wouldn't let me see him, or let Lissa heal him; thinking it would be too much of a power drain. The agony of just waiting while people told me he might not pull through still hadn't left me after all these months, and I snuggled closer to him as he wrapped his arms around me comfortingly, sensing my thoughts.

"So, have you had and enjoyable Christmas?" He asked lightly, obviously trying to distract me from my downbeat reminiscing. "Yes." I sighed contentedly, wriggling in closer to him still. He chuckled. "And your present?" He asked. "Was it up to par? You might think differently, but I'm no diamond bracelet." He said, gesturing to Adrian's gift lying on the bedcovers, now covered in snapped tendrils of Dimitri's hair. I smiled as I narrowly held myself on the edge of awareness for just a moment more. "Well," I said sleepily, "It sure was better than a cat."

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**So there it is kids! A little bit of Christmas spirit for you, eleven months early now. Hope you liked, or loved, or at least didn't hate. Should I do one last chapter, or leave it here?**

**Point out any typos to me if you spot them. There's a funny story behind why Dimitri's wearing boxers, which was a great debate between me and some of my friends, if you want the story feel free to pm me. But thanks to Blair and EmberWillow, black silk boxers are go!**


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